Syria, Yemen opposition warn dictators: You're next

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – Libyan National Transitional Council fighters celebrate in the streets of Tripoli after news of Moammar Gadhafi's capture in Sirte on Thursday, October 20.

Hide Caption

1 of 9

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – NTC fighters hold what they say is the ousted Libyan leader's gold-plated gun Thursday.

Hide Caption

2 of 9

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – Libyans waving NTC flags celebrate in the streets of Tripoli on Thursday after news of Moammar Gadhafi's capture.

Hide Caption

3 of 9

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – Libyans wave their new national flag as they celebrate in Tripoli. Interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril told reporters Thursday that Gadhafi had been killed.

Hide Caption

4 of 9

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – Libyans wave their new national flag as they celebrate in the streets of Tripoli after news of Gadhafi's capture.

Hide Caption

5 of 9

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – Libyan children wave NTC flags in Tripoli. "Libya is now under the full control of National Transitional Council forces," Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, said Thursday.

Hide Caption

6 of 9

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – Libyan National Transitional Council fighters celebrate atop a tank in the coastal city of Sirte on Thursday.

Hide Caption

7 of 9

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – Libyan NTC fighters are congratulated Thursday during celebrations in the streets of Tripoli after news of Moammar Gadhafi's capture.

Hide Caption

8 of 9

Photos:Photos: Celebrations in Libya

Celebrating in the streets of Libya – Young Libyan women celebrate with an NTC flag Thursday as they join others in the streets of Tripoli.

Hide Caption

9 of 9

Story highlights

"This is a lesson for all dictatorships," a Syrian opposition leader says

Moammar Gadhafi's death could have ripple efects through the region, Mideast analyst says

Yemen and Syria are closer to change than Bahrain and Iran, expert says

Dictators around the Middle East should pay close attention to the fate of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, opposition activists from Syria and Yemen said Thursday as reports of Gadhafi's death flashed across the world.

"This is a lesson for all dictatorships: The clear fate of all who kill his people is to end up under the feet of the nation," said Omar Al-Muqdad, a Syrian opposition activist in exile in Turkey.

JUST WATCHED

Tunisia prepares for landmark vote

MUST WATCH

JUST WATCHED

The next chapter in the Arab Spring

MUST WATCH

The next chapter in the Arab Spring03:52

"The support we need is sanctions against Saleh and boycott of Saleh's regime and acknowledgment of Yemen's (opposition) national council," she said from Sweden, where she fled in the face of threats in Yemen.

"I hope that Ali Abdullah Saleh and his regime learn a lesson from what happened to Gadhafi and his government," said Mohammed Abulahoum, head of Yemen's opposition Justice and Development Party. "Saleh must understand that the only scenario left for him, other than stepping down, is what happened to Gadhafi."

Regional expert David Hartwell agreed that Gadhafi's death could have "ripple effects" in the region, spreading the way the Arab Spring did.

"I think what we've seen in the past is that Tunisia had the effect of emboldening the opposition in Egypt," he said. "That has ripple effects out to Yemen and Libya itself."

Yemen is closer to a change of power than Syria, he said.

"Saleh is already edging toward the door anyway. This could have the effect of pushing him through it," said Hartwell, senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at IHS Global Insight in London.

"Syrians may come to see that Libyans removed a dictator who was completely entrenched," he said, "(but) we're not at that point yet, though there have been defections from the army.

"There are local factors in Syria that are going to make it much more difficult to have an effect -- the middle classes in Syria have yet to really throw their lot in with the opposition," he said.

"The situation is going to go along for the foreseeable future," he said.

Radiating out from countries already in turmoil, more changes could be in store for the Middle East in the next few years, he said.

"Further down the line you may see disturbances in other countries," he said, adding that "Bahrain has been postponed rather than resolved ... Iran, when there are presidential elections in two years -- but for the moment it's Syria and Yemen."